An Obscure Player Gets a Card and a Book

[z28jd]

I have admitted to some odd collecting habits, with one of the best examples being my entire T204 collection consisting of six Tom Reilly cards. I like obscure when it comes to baseball, and a guy who had 89 at-bats spread over three seasons counts as obscure. See scan below.

I haven't bought a Reilly card in over 20 years. The scan hasn't been updated in about 15 years, except to crop it better. I got one as a type card for Christmas when I was 15-16. Someone soon said how tough T204 cards were, so I asked on the Full Count board (pre-Net54 for those under 30 years old) if anyone had a T204 Reilly for sale. Three people messaged me right away. Apparently I was full of cash from my bakery job, so I bought all three. I don't remember buying the last two, but they must have happened a short time later. Then I stopped there because I wanted to focus on T206 cards.

Anyway, I just stumbled across a book written in 2022 about Reilly. Two people actually wrote 351 pages about one of the most obscure baseball players in a major pre-war card set. Warning, this isn't my book and I have not read it, so this is not a recommendation. I just wanted to see if someone knew of another full book dedicated to a player as obscure, while also sharing the odd T204 collection along with it. At the very least, the photo used on the book is the best photo I've seen of Reilly.

https://www.amazon.com/Irish-Tommy-R...dp/B0BCHCNWX7/

[Leon]

Cool story about the cards, John, and interesting tidbit about a seemingly obscure player. Thanks for sharing...
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[Tabe]

I think there's a seemingly endless list of books about obscure baseball players. John Paciorek, who played exactly one game? Yep, he's got one. Greg Pryor, a random utility infielder who somehow managed to be at Disco Demolition and the Pine Tar Game? Yep. John D'Acquisto, who won just 34 games? Yep. And on and on.

[z28jd]

Originally Posted by Tabe

I think there's a seemingly endless list of books about obscure baseball players. John Paciorek, who played exactly one game? Yep, he's got one. Greg Pryor, a random utility infielder who somehow managed to be at Disco Demolition and the Pine Tar Game? Yep. John D'Acquisto, who won just 34 games? Yep. And on and on.

Paciorek definitely qualifies. He's not quite as obscure as Reilly because you will hear Paciorek's name pop up from time to time due to his 1.000 average, but playing one game definitely works. The other two both played ten seasons. Not what I was looking for, but definitely odd book choices for sure.

[CurtisFlood]

Thought you might be referencing Moe Berg. He was an amazing scholar and spy, but a mediocre player. His book was a tough read, but I am proud to say I read the whole thing.

[DaveW]

One of the authors is also named Thomas Reilly - a relative I assume which might explain why he wrote it.

[z28jd]

Originally Posted by DaveW

One of the authors is also named Thomas Reilly - a relative I assume which might explain why he wrote it.

In the preview of the intro he said he researched whether or not they were related and he couldn't find any connections. He also said his intentions were to just do a SABR bio, but the amount of info he found turned it into a book.

[judsonhamlin]

Yale Murphy comes to mind. I think he got a book about him before he started coaching and he got an N300 Mayo card on about 50 games played.

[D. Bergin]

I love when obscure-ish athletes have books done on them. There's a ton of them in the boxing realm to.

It's a way of making the memory of somebody, somewhat immortal.

Even if it's done by a family member and doesn't have much of a print run, and maybe it's not a real scorching read.... it's still a tribute to somebody signifying that they spent a lot of time and resources in making sure the memory of somebody can stay alive for future generations.